Galatasaray Medical Park survived Asseco Prokom in a home game Thursday night that ended 78-76 after overtime. Prokom was dominating the game, but an 11-1 by the hosts in the last minutes of the last period allowed them to force overtime and then won in the extra period as Oliver Lafayette missed the winning three. The win allows Galatasaray to improve to 3-3 while Prokom stays as the only winless team in the competition, 0-6. Zaza Pachulia led the winners with 19 points and 10 boards, Preston Shumpert added 13, Jamon Lucas 12 and Darius Songaila 10. For Prokom, Donatas Motiejunas had 22 points and 10 boards while Przemyslaw Zamojski added 15.
Both defenses started well positioned on court and as a results, both teams were struggling to score in offense. Zaza Pachulia opened fire for Galatasaray
fed by Jamon Lucas, but then Asseco Prokom found a way for a 0-7 run including a Lukasz Seweryn three. The hosts we also missing a few open shots in offense
until Pachulia appeared again with a layup. The Galatasaray defense forced an expiry on the shot clock for Prokom, while Pachulia kept on scoring for the
hosts as he was soon up to six points with the 6-7. The big men of Galatasaray were the ones to find the way to the basket as it was now Luksa Andric the one
to score and put the hosts ahead again, but the guests tried to run through Oliver Lafayette, and when they did that they scored as Przemyslaw Zamojski
blasted a three that made it 8-12. In the last plays of the quarter, Galatasaray managed to move the ball better and Andric lifted a ook in the last seconds
to make it 12-14 after 10 minutes.
In the start of the second period Asseco Prokom was still trying to run non-stop through its guards. Adam Hrycaniuk opened fire with a slam but he was
replied by five straight Galatasaray points including Tutku Acik's three for 17-16. However, Jerel Blassingame fed Hrycaniuk again on the run to keep the
guests going. The hosts were also tryin to run and look for different options by moving the ball fast as Cevher Ozer was fed by Preston Shumpert in the
fastbreak. Shumpert himself found the space in the arc to nail a three but Blassingame was now channeling the offense of Prokom to make it 22-24. A 6-0 run
for Galatasaray capped by Jaka Lakovic's layup gave the hosts a 4-point cushion, 28-24. It was Galatasaray's turn definitely to run now, as Darius Songaila
slammed in the fastbreak, but two threes by Donatas Motiejunas and Lafayette prevented the hots from pulling away, 34-31 at the halftime break.
The second half started with Asseco Prokom sending a message in the shape of two straight threes by Zamojski and Motiejunas for 34-37 that soon provoked
Galatasaray's first timeout. However, Motiejunas didn't get the memo and he continued blasting baskets from far and near as soon the Prokom run was 0-13 with
Motiejunas' new three that made it a 10-point game for the guests, 34-44. Galatasaray was out of the game until Ender Arslan came to the rescue with the
first points for the hosts from the arc after 5:07 in the period, but Lafayette replied fast with his own three. After a new Galatasaray timeout, Lucas
continued with the three-point party but Lafayette was everywhere with his basket plus foul. Pachulia had an offensive rebounds and scored it and then
Songaila had a good move in a crowded paint to make it a 46-51, but four straight points for Lafayette, who else, and then his assist squeezed in the last
seconds of the period for Zamojski allowed the guests to have an 11-point edge after 30 minutes, 46-57.
Galatasaray regrouped at the start of the last period to try to recover the deficit, but Zamojski scored first for Asseco making it a 13-point game. Both teams tried to run too much and turnovers arrived on both sides, until Pachulia found his way again in the paint. Shumpert was becoming the go-to man in these decisive moments for Galatasaray but a new guest in the game, Przemyslaw Frasunkiewicz, appeared from nowhere to blast one three and then Zamojski joined him to keep the guests at a safe 53-67 with 5:30 to go. Veteran Lakovic appeared for his team with a three-point play that kept all hopes alive and soon Songaila joined him with three straight buckets with less than three minutes to go that made it 65-69, forcing the Asseco Prokom timeout. No points came in the next two minutes until Motiejunas drew a foul to score once from the line, 65-70 with 55 seconds to go. It was Pachulia's turn on the line and he hit both and in the next play Motiejunas turned the ball over. With 32 seconds to go, Lucas blasted a three that tied the game at 70-70 and a new Prokom timeout. The run was now 11-1 for Galatasaray as Prokom started its static play for the game. The guests played long but Motiejunas missed a three and Zamojski missed again after the offensive rebound to send the game into overtime.
The extra period started with Galatasaray storming on court for a fast 75-72 as Lucas hit a three and Prokom could only hit free throws. Motiejunas kept working in the paint with another basket that made it a 1-point game again, 75-74 with two minutes to go. The defense of the guests was now forcing turnovers on the hosts and Lafayette hit twice from the line to put Prokom ahead again, 75-76 with 70 seconds to go. On the other end, Pachulia found his way to the basket again to put his team ahead, 77-76, while Motiejunas missed twice from the line with 42 seconds to go. Pachulia also missed two and Prokom played long to give Motiejunas a three, but he missed. With 5 seconds to go Pachulia went back to the line and hit only one. With a 78-76 Lafayette went for the three but missed and the win stayed in Istanbul.
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Euroleague.net